The present disclosure relates generally to computing systems, and more particularly to estimating impact of software updates.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option is a computing system. Computing systems may vary in complexity from a single processor operating in relative isolation to large networks of interconnected processors. The interconnected processors may be in close proximity to each other or separated by great distances both physically and as distance is measured in computer networking terms. The interconnected processors may also work together in a closely cooperative fashion or in a loose weakly coupled fashion. Because technology and processing needs and requirements may vary between different applications, the structure and arrangement of the computing system may vary significantly between two different computing systems. The flexibility in computing systems allows them to be configured for both specific users, specific uses, or for more general purposes. Computing system may also include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information based on the needs of the users and the applications.
Additionally, some examples of computing systems include non-transient, tangible machine-readable media that include executable code that when run by one or more processors, may cause the one or more processors to perform the steps of methods described herein. Some common forms of machine readable media include, for example, floppy disk, flexible disk, hard disk, magnetic tape, any other magnetic medium, CD-ROM, any other optical medium, punch cards, paper tape, any other physical medium with patterns of holes, RAM, PROM, EPROM, FLASH-EPROM, any other memory chip or cartridge, and/or any other medium from which a processor or computer is adapted to read.
In the modern computing environment, software is constantly being updated. Software updates can be made for many reasons, including the correcting of defects in the software, adding new features, changing existing features, and/or the like. Just as with any other change, a software update has both risks and rewards. The rewards include the purpose for the update such as the correction of defects and the changes to features. The risks may not be so obvious. Any time a change is made to software, it carries the risk that something that was previously working may no longer work the same way or may no longer work at all. One way to mitigate these risks is through extensive testing of the update before its release and deployment. Unfortunately, extensive testing is often time consuming and expensive and goes not guarantee a risk-free update. In some cases, the amount of testing to perform on an update before its release may be based on a perceived impact of the update on end users, however, this is often a subjective analysis that may vary from end user to end user.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide improved systems and methods for estimating the impact of a software update.